Now that the fairytale has ended, unhappily of course, we can rejoice and be frank. Gloucestershire are an ugly team. Short of imagination, devoid of invention.

For all the screwing up of cardigans in the west country since Mark Alleyne's men lost last weekend's B&H Cup final, ending their five-pot winning streak, the rest of England has gasped with relief. They have now lost three one-dayers in a row. It really is all over.

Much as sentimentalists cherish Alleyne, Kim Barnett and Jack Russell, aesthetes despair at the minimalist style. We were reminded of this yesterday as Gloucestershire scratched out 28 runs in the first 18 overs. It was attritional, bottom of the Second Division stuff; the highest partnership was 44, and they were flattered by Martyn Ball and Ben Gannon's 39-run stand at the death.

Barnett and Chris Taylor, at least, batted with verve until Andy Bichel returned for his second spell. His first ball was slashed to gully by Barnett, out for a stylish 54. His next was fenced at by Alleyne, edging straight to Steve Rhodes.

Taylor held firm. Flatfooted at times, he mixed fraught lbw shouts with impeccably timed strokes. He helped himself to a boundary an over off Bichel after lunch before going two better with a casually hoicked six off Stuart Lampitt.

Bichel took out his frustrations on Jeremy Snape, who gloved a snorter. Ian Harvey followed, offering no stroke to Lampitt, and Taylor fell wafting at Kabir Ali for 50. Bichel then cleaned up Russell and James Averis with pure speed: six for 54 was his reward.

A tally of 222 seemed competitive enough on this unreliable surface. But Nottinghamshire were set 458 to win here a couple of weeks back and did it with ease, and Philip Weston and Amar Singh showed the same brand of dash in the 19 overs they faced last night. The omens, in any case, are hardly promising. Gloucestershire have won once in the championship. They boast only one batsman (Russell) and one bowler (Jon Lewis) in the top 60 of the first-class averages. The plodders are paupers once more.